


Mass Effect: Next Generation

by Kenobi97



Category: Mass Effect - All Media Types
Genre: Destroy Ending, F/F, F/M, Post-Mass Effect 3
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-23
Updated: 2018-05-26
Packaged: 2019-05-13 01:22:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14739429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kenobi97/pseuds/Kenobi97
Summary: Disclaimer: I do not own the characters or locations in this story.  This is a fan fiction based around the video game, Mass Effect, which is owned by Bioware and any other affiliated companies.I also want to give credit for the words to the Alliance Anthem in the story.  I use the lyrics from a tribute song written by a youtube artist, Malukah, titled Reignite.  It is a great song that I recommend going and listening to.





	1. Prologue

I opened my eyes wearily and saw that I was lying in my quarters.  They were very spartan in nature.  That wasn’t any surprise considering that I was at an Alliance military academy.  I graduated today and would enter the Alliance navy with the rank of second lieutenant.  Mom would be there.  Dad would be too.  And so would my dad’s mother, the retired Admiral Hannah Shepard.  Everyone knew _the_ Commander Shepard.  He was an icon that had been honored by every race from the Council worlds to the Terminus Systems.  Even the Batarians.  However, it was difficult to be his daughter.  Everyone looked at me and compared me automatically to him.  I had to wonder if every break I got in making it to the Academy was thanks to my last name.  I guess I had a chip on my shoulder, because I worked my ass off here.  Salutatorian in my class.  Top marks in combat training.  Able to speak a variety of alien languages.  And adept at the use of biotics.  But to be fair, all asari had a predisposed advantage in regards of biotic usage.  That was another chip on my shoulder.  I was one of the few asari daughters of humans that had chosen to serve in the Alliance military.  Half of my colleagues looked at me warily, like I was spying for Thessia.  I stood up from my military cot and put on my dress blues.  I then opened my door and strode outside with a purposeful gait.  I was only one of many students making their way towards the auditorium.  I ran into a friend of mine and grinned, “Hey Anna.  What’s your first posting?”  She smiled broadly and said, “I’m so excited.  I heard from a friend of a friend who works in administration, that I might be getting assigned to the SSV Logan! Can you imagine that?  A dreadnaught assignment right out of the Academy?”  I smiled and placed a hand on her shoulder.  “You’ll do great.”  The two of us then continued to walk through the halls until we finally made it inside the auditorium.

The place was packed with cadets and their families.  We were all sitting towards the front, but I did see my parents sitting down.  Mom was wearing a pretty jade colored dress.  And dad was right beside her in his dress blues with a few of his more important medals pinned to his chest alongside his golden oak leaf, signifying that he was a Major in the Alliance military.  His hair was beginning to go salt and pepper in color.  And he needed a walking stick to help him move around.  One of his legs hadn’t healed properly after the Battle for Earth.  But his spine was straight as a steel rod and his eyes burned with pride.  He was a military man through and through.  In the row behind him were his security agents.  As a member of the Citadel Council he was obligated to keep a contingent of C-Sec and Alliance soldiers with him at major public events.  It always exasperated him a bit, but I knew he liked the added security for his family.  Before they began to announce the names, the Alliance Anthem was played.  All of the cadets and their families stood and closed their eyes solemnly.  The anthem had been written during the Reaper War and its words held such heart and meaning to the survivors.  “Hope can drown lost in thunderous sound.  Fear can claim what little faith remains.  But I carry strength from souls now gone.  They won't let me give in ...  I will never surrender.  We'll free the Earth and sky.  Crush my heart into embers, and I will reignite ... I will reignite.  Death will take those who fight alone.  But united we can break a fate once set in stone.  Just hold the line until the end.  'Cause we will give them hell ... I will never surrender.  We'll free the Earth and sky.  Crush my heart into embers, and I will reignite ... I will reignite ... I will reignite.”  Seated along with the rest of the students, I kept listening for my name to be called after the song was finished.  Finally, I heard the words, “Lieutenant Calliope Shepard.”  I stand and walk towards the stage.  I shook the provost’s hand, picked up my rank insignia and posting orders, and walked back towards my seat with a smile.  When I opened the envelope in my seat and saw where I was being assigned, I nearly audible gasped.  Anna looked over at my face and whispered, “What’s wrong?”  I showed her the paper and replied, “I’m being assigned to the SSV Normandy SR3.”


	2. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own the characters or locations in this story. This is a fan fiction based around the video game, Mass Effect, which is owned by Bioware and any other affiliated companies.

The ceremony was over.  But I had yet to rise from my seat.  I rubbed my head tiredly feeling a headache coming on.  The Normandy was one of the most elite ships in the navy.  Its stealth systems, drive core, and defensive systems made it the ideal ship to serve on any number of spec ops missions.  And at this moment, it was under the command of Major Ashley Williams.  One of humanity’s Spectres.  And I was only a thirty-year old lieutenant.  A thirty-year old lieutenant with a famous last name associated with the Normandy.  I saw my parents make their way over to me.  Dad put a hand on my shoulder when he saw my expression and said, “What’s wrong Callie?”  I handed the paper to him and said, “Did you have anything to do with this?”  He read it and smiled, “You’re assigned to the Normandy?  That’s a tremendous honor.  She’s one hell of a ship.  And no.  I wouldn’t do that to you.  I want you to go forward on your own merits.  You made salutatorian all on your own.  And the valedictorian was a salarian.”  We chuckled at that as he continued, “You’ve earned this.”  Mom smiled at me and said, “Honey, we couldn’t be prouder of you.”  I finally stood up and hugged the two of them.  We walked out of the hall and the campus itself out into the rainy London day.  Across from the Academy, we could see the beautifully rebuilt Alliance Central Command Complex.  A golden statue stood in front of the building.  Dad always paused for a moment when he saw it.  It was in memoriam for Admiral Anderson, his mentor, after his death during the Reaper Wars.  But we continued walking along the streets until we reached the flat that my parents owned.  They lived there whenever they weren’t on the Citadel.  It was in a well secured neighborhood.  A lot of the Alliance brass lived in the area.  We walked inside, and I was tackled in a hug by my younger sister, Zia.  She was only twenty years old.  Far more rambunctious than I was.  She was always giving dad a fit running around with guys.  He always said, “No daughters of mine will be off dancing on tables someplace.  Or joining up with merc groups.”  He knew from experience that many maiden asari would go off on those kinds of adventures.  Zia assented to that and stayed close to home, but she still craved excitement and would go clubbing every chance she got with her friends.  She loved getting into trouble on the Citadel in particular with so many wards to explore.  I hugged her back and said with a laugh, “Zia, you act like I lived on the other side of the sector.  I only was quartered a few blocks away.  You’ll have to get used to seeing me less.  My orders say that I’m departing tomorrow.”  I felt Zia’s damp tears against my uniform and she said sadly, “Why do you have to go?  Can’t you get her assigned to a position at the London Headquarters dad?”  He shook his head reproachfully and said, “Zia, you know that it’s important for your sister to follow her own path.  And she is choosing to serve the galaxy and the Alliance.”  Zia rolled her eyes and said, “Real subtle dad but you know I’m not going to join the military.”  Dad chuckled and said, “Fine, even though it would do you some good.  How much good it would do them is … debatable.”  She snorted and replied, “I have art to focus on.”  Zia was gifted in painting and sculpture.  Mom put her hands up and said slightly annoyed, “We can have this debate later.  It’s your sister’s last night at home for some time.”  Mom was proud of me joining the service, but she was also worried about me going off to fight.  I think she was secretly thrilled that my sister wasn’t rushing off to war.  She was the head of an independent intelligence agency formed from the ashes of the old Shadow Broker network.  She used it to aid the Alliance and the Council, but she knew better than anyone the dangers that the galaxy harbored.

Fighting was scarce these days though.  Most of the species had been playing nice since the Reaper War.  Even Aria T’Loak’s crime syndicate out of Omega had shut down most slaving operations and cleaned up their act slightly.  There was talk of making an actual Terminus government headed up by T’Loak.  The krogan were playing nice … relatively speaking.  They had been granted a good deal of territory for their role in the war and Urdnot Wrex pledged to not take any planets by force.  He had united the clans under his banner as one krogan people and government.  The turians and humans had only gotten closer and friendlier since the end of the war.  The asari were still coping with the destruction of much of Thessia.  It had all been rebuilt, but it was a psychological blow.  They vowed to expand their navy and military in the event of future crises.  The quarians had expanded their territory and had resettled Rannoch along with a major population boom.  They had formed increasingly close relations with the Alliance.  The salarians and the Alliance had mixed relations following the cure of the genophage and humanity’s close ties with the krogan.  But they were slowly being repaired.  After the war, the quarians, volus, elcor, hanar, even the krogan were all invited to sit on the Citadel Council for their role in the galactic victory.  The humans and turians insisted on this.  The asari went along with the decision over the objections of the salarians.  The galaxy was by and large at peace.  But every species remained on a war footing and expanded their militaries.  Nobody wanted to be surprised by a Reaper like invasion ever again.  Also, the punishments for researching AI had been greatly increased.  In Council space, it was punishable by a lifetime in prison.  In areas like the Terminus, it was a death sentence.  One-time Admiral Xen of the quarians had been executed by her people for attempting to create a new race of servants like the geth.  And extremist groups had faced a major downturn.  The post-war campaign against Cerberus’s remnants was quick and efficient.  Most of their agents had been hooked up with Reaper tech and had been destroyed when the Crucible fired.  Parties like Terra Firma were incredibly ostracized.  That was good news for people like me.

That night, we had a pleasant dinner at a nearby Italian restaurant.  We watched movies, talked, and laughed.  It was a fun time.  And the next morning I said goodbye to my family.  I made my way to the Alliance Command Complex and boarded a shuttle.  I was ready to embark on a journey to the stars. 


End file.
